DALE HURLBUT

SHORTSTOP EXTRAORDINAIRE

Dale Hurlbut was born and raised on a small farm in southwestern Minnesota. He has two older brothers, Richard and Allen and a younger sister, Margaret.

Up at dawn, Dad and the boys milked 21 cows by hand before breakfast. There were many chores to do and crops to look after. Dinner on the farm was at mid-day, giving them the energy needed to continuing working until dark.

Dale worked and played hard. He was always a bit accident-prone and has the scars to prove it. Broken bones and stitches were common throughout his childhood. As his friends can tell you, this has continued into his adult life.

When Dale was 14, the family moved to a nearby town where Dad bought a large building with a four-lane bowling alley, card room, pool tables, tavern, café and barbershop. They moved into a house behind the bowling alley. Dad and Mom worked very hard to keep all these businesses thriving every day.

Wilmont was a bustling town of about 300 people. It had one school building that housed grades 1-12. The total high school enrollment was 79 students, including Dale’s graduating class of 24. Basketball was the school’s only competitive sport. It was easier to get together a team of five rather than nine for baseball or eleven for football. Some years even that was impossible, so Dale was asked to play on the high school basketball team when he was in the 8^th grade. At about the same time, he played sandlot baseball: usually over–the-line because there weren’t enough players for traditional baseball. He later joined the Wilmont American Legion baseball team and played against other farming communities.

Dale’s family joined other farm families in town every Saturday evening. This was the time to buy supplies, socialize and wait for the highlight of the week. At 9:00 PM, the fire bell would ring to announce the drawing for free groceries.

A few years later, Dad sold the businesses. He purchased a few buses and started a school transportation company. He also purchased a bowling alley in the nearby city of Worthington.

He continued to work at the bowling alley for more than 10 years.

Dale’s dad was a no non-sense, take charge guy who could do anything he set his mind to. He was always tinkering and “inventing” something. He built an apparatus to dry corn picked in the field. This improves the quality of the corn and resulted in a better price when he sold it.

After graduation, Dale took a job working in a grain elevator. An older friend who had just been discharged from the Navy convinced Dale to go to California with him. With ninety dollars in his pocket, Tom and Dale were off to Los Angeles. They arrived in LA on a Sunday and by Wednesday; Dale had a job working at an electronics company building switches for the Vanguard Rocket.

To please his parents, Dale contacted his aunt and cousins who lived in LA. They invited him to dinner. They were a little surprised when he arrived at noon. For those of you who do not know, in the mid-section of the country, the farmers eat breakfast, dinner and supper in that order.

Life seemed good in California until four months later when the company lost the Vanguard contract and Dale lost his job. Unable to find another, he returned to Minnesota. Soon afterward he received a letter notifying him that Uncle Sam wanted him. Preferring a warm bed over a muddy foxhole, he joined the Navy. Dale completed basic training at Great Lakes Naval Station and was assigned to a ship out of California. During his enlistment, he was on four different ships and did two tours of duty in Viet Nam. A favorite memory is playing fast pitch softball with his ship’s team when they were in port.

Dale was discharged in San Francisco and decided to stay in California. He worked briefly for the Southern Pacific Railroad; but after a few months, decided to accept a position with Seaboard Finance. He settled into a long career with Seaboard (later to become Avco Financial Services), living initially in Alhambra in southern California. His office was twelve miles from home in Los Angeles. His daily commute only took him an hour each way. His new job and evening classes at UCLA kept him very busy.

Dale joined a Catholic Youth Group (Caritas) for young adults. One evening at a bowling tournament, Dale met a cute scorekeeper, who was keeping score for his team. However, there was a problem! She didn’t know how to do it and was messing up his score. How does he tell her tactfully? Dale managed to find a way and two years later, in June 1970, the scorekeeper, Karen, became his wife.

Dale was offered a position at Avco Headquarters in Newport Beach, CA and the couple moved to Costa Mesa. Dale became Assistant Vice President of Corporate Services and Karen found employment in the medical field. They settled in to raise a family: their son, Bryan, is now a realtor in Walnut Creek and daughter, Lori is finishing a master’s degree in speech pathology at Sacramento State.

Dale enjoyed coaching his children in soccer, baseball, basketball and softball; from pee-wee and thru high school. During this time, he played softball and basketball on his company teams. Karen could be found at all the games watching her family. He and Karen also bowled in company leagues for many years. They enjoyed taking their family on yearly summer vacations to see relatives in Minnesota. They would enjoy the State Fair, boating and swimming and always returned to California with suitcases filled with his mom’s home made bread.

Karen has a 30+ year medical insurance billing career. She enjoys crafts, sewing and spending time with family. She regrets never mastering her mother-in-law’s home-made bread.

In 1999, Avco Financial Services was sold to Associates Financial Services. Most Avco employees were laid off and after 30 years with the company, Dale found himself out of a job.

He soon accepted a position as a purchasing agent with Berlin Industries (a printing company) and relocated to Sun City McDonald Ranch in Henderson, Nevada. Dale joined a slo-pitch softball team and became involved in organizing a senior league in Henderson. Soon after, Dale was invited to join a traveling team as an infielder. He accepted and played in tournaments in Mesquite, NV, St. George, UT, New Mexico and various cities in California. His team won a ring at Nationals in Las Vegas in 2002.

Dale and Karen decided to return to California to be closer to their children. Dale doubted he would find another job, so Karen moved first and found a position in medical billing. She is currently working for two physicians in Auburn and is very happy she can do most of the work from home. Dale arrived soon after Karen and had a short career in printing sales.

Soon after moving to Lincoln Hills in 2004, Dale joined LHSSL in late May and was assigned to the Placer Hearing team. This team won the Recreational League Championship. Ron Rodda encouraged Dale to join the 55 Coyotes team mid season. He has continued to play in both the recreational league and the Coyote organization ever since. Dale admits. “If I were smart I’d give up softball and concentrate on my real love: golf. I get hurt a lot less playing golf.” Oh, by the way he has a 10.8 handicap, so it seems he’s just as competitive in golf as in softball.

A routine heart procedure in January 2007 led to a heart attack with several complications. This and some injuries have limited Dale’s softball playing in the last year. If he follows his doctor’s instructions, he should be able to play many more games in the future.

While Dale has embraced life in Lincoln Hills, within his thin frame beats the heart of a small town Minnesota farm boy. His brother, Richard still lives on the building site of the farm Dale left so many years ago. He is retired and keeps an eye on the property for an absentee farmer. Both Margaret and Allen live in the nearby city of Worthington. She schedules shows and exhibitions at the Municipal Theater. Allen is retired while his wife owns a photo studio and lets him help just enough to keep him occupied, but not so much that he messes up her system.

Besides playing softball a few days a week, Dale plays as much pool and golf as he can along with an occasional game of table tennis. He likes tennis, but the hard surface courts are too hard on his back. Karen plays Bunco in a neighborhood group and they both like to attend the summer series of concerts.

If you don’t recognize Dale by his picture just wait until you’re down at the field. The next time you see a shortstop making fantastic plays ask the person next to you, “Who is that guy?” He’ll probably answer, “Dale Hurlbut”.